


A Bullet to the Brain is Not Enough

by iPhonesIn1997



Series: Always and Forever [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Akechi Goro POV, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kurusu Akira Whump, M/M, Minor Injuries, Niijima Sae POV, Non-Consensual Drug Use, November 20 Interrogation (Persona 5), Only Yoshizawa and the Interrogation tho, Other, Persona 5 Spoilers, Police Brutality, Post-November 20 Interrogation (Persona 5), Pre-Relationship, Sakamoto Ryuji POV, Whump, kurusu akira pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:15:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25247494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iPhonesIn1997/pseuds/iPhonesIn1997
Summary: What happened during the November 20th interrogation was nothing to walk away from as if it were nothing. Trauma and injuries stick with a person, without being able to reach someone you put in potentional danger would ride on anyone's nerves, no matter the plan you have in place.A more whumpy version of the interrogation and the aftermath.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Kitagawa Yusuke & Kurusu Akira, Kurusu Akira & Morgana, Kurusu Akira & Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira & Niijima Sae, Kurusu Akira & Okumura Haru, Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Kurusu Akira & Sakamoto Ryuji, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Futaba, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Sojiro, Kurusu Akira & Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira & Yoshizawa Sumire | Yoshizawa Kasumi, Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji
Series: Always and Forever [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759114
Kudos: 32





	A Bullet to the Brain is Not Enough

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot I swear. I just kept getting ideas and I was like shoot, I have to incorporate them here if I want to incorporate them at all and thus, I'm now writing a four chapter fic.

The realization that this may be the last time Akira saw his friends finally struck, the possibility they fail,  _ he _ fails coming to light in his head. Before today there seemed to be no doubt that they would all make it out of Sae’s palace alive and well. The mere notion that they could fail was laughable, the fact that they very well may lose their leader? Unheard of and baffling to think. But now? Akira could feel nothing but dread and worry as Oracle informed the Thieves of the massive amounts of enemy readings that flooded into the palace. Futaba briefly glanced at him in worry and he gives her the most reassuring and confident smirk he can manage and prays that it’s believable, that she can’t hear his breaths quicken in anxiety. 

“We need to go now,” Morgana insists, “If we get surrounded, we’re done for!” 

“A group this large would be caught immediately,” Queen begins, and however true the words may be they seem heavy on her tongue. “We’d be best splitting up for our escape.” She knows the plan, they all do, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Makoto sighs heavily and forces the words out, “We’ll need someone to act as a decoy.. No, that’s far too dangerous.”

“I’ll do it.” The words seem sudden and forced to his own ears, but Akechi seems to receive them just fine. A look of ‘surprise’ flits across his face, and Akira wishes he could believe that this wasn’t what Akechi wanted. 

“Joker? You plan on distracting them by yourself?” Makoto begins to protest, and Akira must applaud her acting once they have the time. 

“Let him do it, Queen.” Ryuji speaks up, his voice seems uncharacteristically soft and his expression serious. Akira wishes that he would smile that grin that always managed to get his heart to beat faster, just so that smile gets to be the last thing he sees on Ryuji. Perhaps that’s selfish, but Akira decides he’ll feel guilty about it when this is all over. “Joker may be quiet, but once his mind’s made up he’s not gonna take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Ryuji walks close to him and hands him the briefcase they planted as the ‘treasure’, when he’s about to give the blond a reassuring smile and a line that would hopefully instill confidence in the entire team, Ryuji pulls him into a one armed hug.

“We’ll get him back for this,” Ryuji whispers into his ear like a promise, fiery and full of confidence. He pulls back and a wide grin stretches across his face, “I’m sure you ain’t gonna die, it’s  _ you  _ we’re talkin’ about.”

“Please don’t do anything reckless, Joker.” Haru says softly, her face downcast and Akira finds that he can’t blame her a single bit.

“I’ll never forgive you if you don’t make it back!” Ann says haughtily and Akira puts on a soft smile for her. An Akira smile, not a Joker smile.

“We still haven’t fulfilled our deal, remember?” Morgana says, his words and tone are harsh but Akira recognizes what it really means. That if Akira were to kick the bucket here, Morgana would miss him dearly, deal fulfilled or not.

“Even more are coming!” Futaba interrupts, her tone is somewhat aggressive and urges them to hurry, but Akira already knows she would be lost without her ‘key item’.

“This is a truly reluctant parting…” Yusuke says and Akira feels his heart wretch, but reminds himself that this  _ must _ be done.

“It seems we had best hurry.” Crow tosses the words out there, seeming impatient and Akira can’t help but think that Akechi’s well placed mask was slipping.

“..We’ll all see you later.” Queen offers and the other thieves nod in agreement. 

With those final words, the group splits off and Akira wished he knew that they wouldn’t run into trouble. They still had Crow with them, and whether that was best or not, Joker couldn’t say. Thoughts ran through his mind, what if he led them straight into enemy hands? What if Akechi knew his phone had been bugged and threw together a new plan so they couldn’t counter it? He shook his head to clear it, continuing to run through the near empty hallways of Sae’s palace. The entire casino seemed absolutely devoid of shadows, the posts that had originally been taken up by the masked figures empty. Joker almost found this more haunting, just how many enemies had gathered in and around the casino lobby? 

He’d finally reached the lobby, well, rather above the lobby. The fixtures held tight even with his weight being added along with the light’s weight. The people below seemed to be panicking, though whether that was from the large amounts of armed officers busting through the entrance or they had noticed him above, Joker couldn’t say. Jumping from one light fixture to the next felt almost familiar to him, looking down at the cognitions below him he felt almost.. Strong. As if someone hadn’t decided that they wanted a bullet in his head, he let a smirk fall across his lips, this was what he knew. He knew how to show off, how to run through the seemingly never ending hallways of a palace and ripping away shadows’ masks, he knew how to be Joker, and right now? That was all he needed. He pushed away his lingering doubts, he let himself be seen by the men in black suits. If he strained himself, he could just hear one man telling his officers to move in, that the target was in sight. Confirming that they knew of his whereabouts, Joker jumped from his perch and down to the next platform. 

“Good, now get running!” He heard Morgana from.. Somewhere. He couldn’t exactly place where the voice was coming from, but Akira figured that it had something to do with Oracle and Necronomicon. 

“This is our only chance!” Akechi’s voice sounded and Akira was grateful for their voices, whether or not one of them happened to be his would-be murderer.

“Stay calm, you can get away now!” Oracle stated, and he followed their directions, running along the suspended platforms. 

“We’ll retrieve the briefcase on our end.” Queen informed him, and while he knew that he likely wasn’t going to get that far, it was a nice picture. 

“Don’t worry about us, just concentrate on getting away!” Mona spoke over Futaba and an incomprehensible transmission she had picked up. “But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always, Joker.”

While Morgana’s praise and compliments always made his mood better, he wished he was in a better situation to be doing nice work. A voice shouted about his whereabouts and the men burst out of a door, he turned quickly listening to Futaba’s shouts to get out of there and rushed towards the arches that decorated the casino. Joker tuned out the Thieves’ chatter in favor of looking out ahead of himself. After finally reaching a balcony accessible by typical means, he knew this was one of his only ways out but it also was leading him straight towards the men that he’s been avoiding. It was near immediate, the men that had been after him morphing into the masked figures that occupied the palace. He smirked, regular people were one thing, but shadows were far easier to handle. 

“Take ‘em down, Joker!” Panther cheered him on. 

He flipped onto the shadow behind him’s shoulder with a smirk, tearing the dull gray mask from its face. No matter how many palaces Joker faces with hundreds of shadows lying within the Metaverse. Joker could never say that he got used to the unsettling transformation. The bulging of skin, marring the typically humanoid picture as the growths burst and released the odd shadowy substance he’d come to recognize as distortion in the Metaverse. The thing revealed its true form as a Moloch. 

As he prepares to challenge the Moloch, Akira could feel Arsene reach out to him. His persona’s voice echoes in his head, saying to use the power he’s acquired over his time with the Phantom Thieves. Akira feels a renewed sense of confidence and his grin widens, they couldn’t fail this mission no matter what they faced. He reached for Arsene, feeling the protective presence behind him and used a curse spell to defeat the Moloch. With Arsene by his side and the Thieves’ voices loud and clear, he could feel some of his anxiety slip away. _No matter what happens after_ , Joker thought as he escaped from the grasping hands of another shadow, _we will see this through to the end._   
  


Joker ran through the cold hallways, the walls littered with posters of victory. 

“I’m getting a strange reading!” Oracle informed him, “Be careful, Joker.” 

The men were easy to avoid, they seemed to be in a panic to find him or any of the other Thieves. Find  _ someone _ to come back to reality with and make them atone for their crimes, it was amusing considering how many of the men had committed crimes of their own. 

“Ugh! Just how many of them are there?!” Oracle complained as another one of the men came into view.

“Everything okay?” Crow asked, acting as if he gave a damn, “The security level may rise if you take too much time.”

“I know, I know!” Oracle snapped. “I’m looking for another route, just hang on. Oh! Perfect timing, Joker. Look up. Can you use that thing and just fly over there?” 

Joker nodded, though he figured she couldn’t see him. Grappling onto a pipe, he was able to flip over onto the catwalk and resume his run through the back hallways of the palace. A large open room came into view and he continued on into it, as Oracle had instructed. 

“Joker - Stop!” Oracle ordered, seemign panicked. “It’s an enemy right near you!” 

Joker looked around in confusion, as there was no visible enemy in the room, let alone near him. That was until two shadows seemed to appear from nowhere, as if they had just sprouted from the ground in front of him. He flipped back, hoping to either be able to get away or fight, but more appeared and surrounded him. 

“Even you can’t take on this many..” Oracle started, her voice giving way to her panic and Akira swore he could hear her frantic typing as she attempted to find a solution. “Joker! That weird reading from earlier’s closing in on you too!”

Joker stood, surrounded by the shadows, they had faced worse situations than this but that was always with the team. He swore, trying to find a way out of the hole that had been dug for him. 

“I’ll end this right now.” A voice began, her heels clicking heavily against the concrete floor. The figure drew her rapier and Akira swore that her voice was familiar, even her outfit was familiar. 

“Joker! She’s the weird reading I’ve been getting!” 

The girl threw her sword directly into the chest of the shadow behind him, seeing that form and the hilt of that sword it dawned on him. Kasumi had come to help, but why? And how? He didn’t think he ever told her the keywords and they would’ve noticed if she had been dragged in with them. Either way he was thankful as the shadows moved on from him and rushed Kasumi, who gracefully dodged out of the way of their attacks. Using her flexibility and gymnastic abilities, the red head defeated the shadows with her pistol, blasting them in the heads with well-aimed shots. 

“My weak self relied on you so much, that ends today.” Kasumi declares as she saunters towards him, ripping her rapier through the shadow and catching it from the air. “Let’s do this, Senpai!” 

She stands by his side as they prepare to take on the last three shadows in the room, two Oses and a Jatayu tooked the black suits’ places. 

“The enemy readings have decreased?” Oracle said, clearly surprised. 

“That’s..!” Mona started, but Joker tuned them out in favor of helping Kasumi in the current battle.

The Jatayu attempted to hit Kasumi with a Garula spell, but the gymnast easily dodged the attack, “It’s been a while since we last fought side-by-side.” Kasumi smiled softly at Akira. “But this time, it’s my turn to come to  _ your  _ aid, Senpai. Now, let’s win this!” 

The battle was quickly won, with both Kasumi and Joker working to knock the shadows prone and attack them while they were down. 

“I think that’s the last of them?” Kasumi said, turning to Joker once the shadows had been defeated.

“I genuinely have no clue what just happened,” Futaba cut in, “But I take it you’re okay? Wait- Bad news! Enemy backup is coming your way! You need to book it, right now!” Futaba urged, the panic clear in her voice. 

“Please go.” Kasumi spoke up, “I’m going to make it harder for them to track you down. You still have something you need to do as a phantom thief, right?”

Joker nodded in affirmation.

“Then I won’t stop you. However, please don’t forget the promise we made, okay?” She reminded him, leaping up onto an exposed ventilation shaft. 

“Joker!” Futaba’s voice sounded urgently, “You need to get out of there! Go go go!” 

He shook his head fondly to himself before breaking into a run once more as Oracle informed him to take the stairs ahead of him, only slowing down for the sake of stealth whenever there was a chance he could be seen. The enemies, whether they were cognitions or the real deal Joker couldn’t tell anymore, had taken post in a monitor filled room and he thanked whatever deity there may be that they hadn't noticed him through the large window. He glanced into the room, leaned firmly against the wall, to check if any of the people were facing towards the glass. Deeming the coast clear he sprinted past the window, rushing up the flights of stairs that came after. 

Joker could hear the sounds of footsteps rapidly following after him and forced himself to climb the steps faster than before. He cursed the fact that they weren’t able to explore this area of Sae’s casino, leaving him running blind aside from the scarce remark from Oracle to head a certain way. He assumed it was so that no one of the other alignment heard where he was supposed to head, but it didn’t change the fact that he had basically been abandoned by his navigators, past and present. Finally reaching the top of the stairs, he slammed open the exit door off to the right hallway, only to be met with a dead end. A balcony that left only the main floor of the casino to run to, and that was with Joker jumping and breaking his damned legs. They already burned with exertion from the battle with Sae’s shadow and now sprinting through the casino itself, his wounds still a stinging ache throughout his body, having no time for Morgana to properly heal them after the fight. He rested his hands on the railing, looking over the edge, Futaba must have noticed his lack of movement and prompted him,

“Something wrong? The exit should be up ahead.” 

“Through there..?” He asked, glancing up to see the large stained glass window that Futaba seemed to be referring to as his ‘exit’. She sighed.

“That’s just how it is.” Her voice sounded strained, “After that commotion, the bottom floor’s completely closed off.” She stopped for a moment, her voice brightening slightly, “Hey, can you make it?”

Joker smiled softly, he damn well could make it, though in how many pieces was another question. Any hesitation he may have had was dashed as the men following him came into sight, guns drawn.

“Over there! There’s nowhere to run!” One man shouted.

Akira shook his head lightly, with how much of a threat they made him out to be, you would think that they’d have shot him already. He was thankful for the hesitance either way, as it gave him time to jump up onto the railing, dashing across the narrow platform towards the window. 

“See ya!” He said with a smirk, jumping into the window with his arms shielding his head. 

The thought crossed his mind that perhaps it would have been safer to scale down the outer wall rather than free falling, but what was the fun in that? Plus, extra style points, right?

“What a showoff..” Makoto seemed to disagree.

“You’re so reckless, you know that?” Ann sighed, he could hear the fond distaste in her voice.

He rolled to soften the landing, the glass falling short after him, Joker climbed to his feet, ignoring the soreness that his body ached with. His heart dropped as lights flashed on, one after another, car lights perhaps? He couldn’t tell, the light was blindingly bright, though he was able to make out the lines of SWAT members before him.

“Enemies here!?” Futaba gasped, her voice rising in panic.

“What’s wrong?!” Goro asked, and Joker wished that it was sincere concern.

“These readings.. It can’t be!” 

“What happened?” Ryuji shouted, and Joker hoped this wouldn’t be the last time he heard his voice. He’d much rather have a heartfelt goodbye, a laugh and a smile, something other than his complete and utter concern and panic. 

“An ambush?” Makoto asked, her voice breathy with surprise as if she couldn’t believe that this could have ever happened to them, to him.

“Joker, can you handle this?” Morgana asks, as if he’s not one hundred percent, completely surrounded by an overwhelming amount of people in protection gear, leaving him with his options to either handle this with his personas while he was exhausted from a fight with a palace ruler or to run.

“Joker!” Yusuke called out in concern, and it finally struck him. He’d be leaving these people, his friends behind if he failed this mission. His heart thumped against his chest, like a bird beating its wings in too small of a cage. The air felt thick and his lungs heavy, his chest heavy with breaths that he didn’t realize he’d been struggling with. He felt more determined to survive than he had since this year began, he had a purpose and it was to return to his friends alive. It didn’t matter what happened to him, so long as he made it back to them. He looked on into the crowd, the team still shouting in his ears, urging him to  _ move _ to get away from the people who were trying to detain him. 

“Capture him!” 

Someone had shouted and everything came flooding into Joker’s sense, the bright lights that seemed to track him, the sounds of men and women heavy with gear taking strides towards him, the shouting of orders from either alignment. So he did as his instincts told him to, he ran. The logical part of his brain whispered that perhaps he should have let himself be detained, that his sentence would be lighter if he didn't resist arrest. But his legs were moving on their own, his sights set on a ladder that led up onto a fire escape on a nearby building, his heart hammering in his chest. He could almost feel the cold concrete of the holding cell, surrounded by people who had actually committed crimes while he was just a child who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Akira wondered if this experience would be similar, if the officers would still look at him in disgust, his cellmates either intimidating or wasted trying to ask him what he did, how old he was, saying that he didn’t  _ look _ like a bad kid. 

It was a miracle no one had caught him, the SWAT team close on his heels, some members even diving for him and narrowly missing. The click of his own heels heavy against the cement, the blood rushing in his ears, the pressure building in his head; the shuffling, scraping sounds behind him, his chasers’ breath heavy with effort. It was nearly too much, the thoughts running through Joker, no  _ Akira’s _ , head were neverending. His senses were almost too much to stay sane, but he had a goal. 

Joker pulled himself up onto the ladder, gripping with his gloved hands and using the swinging momentum to pull his feet up onto the bottom rung. He grinned, the slim sense of hope radiating as he made his escape. One rung, then the next and he could hear Ryuji, Morgana, Futaba, his entire team cheering him on. Telling him he had this, that it was expected from their outstanding leader. He gripped the next rung, pulling himself up another step, that was when he looked up. He swore under his breath, the smirk he wore slipping off of his face like butter as he spotted the men above him. He was just able to process the butt of a rifle in front of his face before he felt the hard material smash into his skull, causing him to lose his grip on the ladder. 

Joker hit the ground hard, pain spiking into his back like needles before dulling into an ever present ache. He groaned weakly as the crowd of armed men surrounded him, turning him over roughly and pinning him to the ground once more, punching the air out of his lungs briefly.

“Suspect secure!” A young sounding officer declared, hid voice seeming to belong to the man who still had his hand on his back. 

“Didn’t expect to find some kid.” Another officer spoke, his voice sounding rough with age. The man shoved his hand into Akira’ thick curls, crouching down with a condescending grin. “You have your teammate to thank for this.” He pulled on the teen’s hair to turn his head, the giddy, sadistic smile he wore not faltering, if anything seeming to grow in size. “You were sold out.”

The older man began to move away, dropping Joker’s head against the concrete and another officer placed a knee onto the dark haired teen’s neck in the old officer’s place. 

“Suspect confirmed! Cuff him!” An authority voice shouted, and rough hand pulled his wrists up behind his back, Joker’s shoulders protesting against the tight pull, metal cuffs were clasped against his thin wrists and Akira’s one wish was to hear his team’s concerned voices. There was only a dull humming in his head, an ache in body, and an unfaltering feeling of failure.

\-----

The entirety of Akira’s being caught and waking up in the cold concrete room was a blur, bright colors and loud, dark voices. The occasional pinch of pain that even the thought of left his head hazy, then again everything seemed pretty hazy currently. It was the cold splash of water that woke him, not the angry officers, nor the sharp pang around his wrists from his restraints. He was cold and shivering, looking like a drenched rat and the men were only capable of cruelty. 

“No dozing off.” A man sneered, as the teen took in his surroundings.

The man had a face full of sharp points and wore a suit that was remarkably clean for the atrocities he’s fulfilled. Akira pulled on his restraints, the cuffs not budging, digging into the skin of his wrists. 

“You still don’t get it, do you?” The man asked with a dark lilt to his voice. 

“I think I'm getting it just fine.” The teen replied, returning the man’s harsh look with a glare despite his vision spinning with the effort of even holding himself upright.

“Give it up!” 

The connection of the man’s dress shoes against the teen’s chest was surprising, yet also highly predictable. The chair he was bound to had toppled with the force of the kick and had landed with a loud clang, the attack knocked the breath from his lungs, leaving him gasping and coughing on the ground. The world turned around him despite his lack of movement, a sharp pain in his head and his limbs heavy. 

“Come on, cooperate.” The man crouched down, tugging on his hair to force the delinquent to look him in the eye. His breath stank, Akira idly noted within the wobbling thoughts his mind consisted of. “Or what? You want another shot?” 

The other men in the room laughed at the notion, apparently the idea of a minor being shot up was a humorous thought to them. Frankly, the mere thought of something in his system made Akira sick to his stomach. He glanced at the blurry red light in the corner of the room, a camera? It was just a glance, a flick of his eye towards the recording device, but the man caught it.

“Oh? Thinking the recording could be used against us?” The man barked out a laugh, low and manic. A dark calm washed over the man after a moment of silence, the adult’s face darkening considerably. “No one will defend you, this is what you deserve. Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons.. Manslaughter too, right? Did you enjoy it, punk?” 

Akira didn’t respond.

He dropped Akira’s head to the ground, a thunk resonated through the bland room though none of the occupants seemed to care. The blurred form reached for the clipboard in the man who stood beside the doorway’s hand. The man gave a kick to the kid’s stomach before reaching behind him to unclasp the cuffs digging into Akira’s wrists. 

“Sign it.” The man said gruffly, shoving the clipboard into his face and a pen into his shaking

hand. 

Akira pushed himself up slightly, the room continued to spin and nausea crawled up his throat at the action, but he turned his attention to attempt to read the page clasped under the clip. At the teen’s hesitance to follow his demands the man gave a devastating punch into the teen’s cheek, sending Akira sprawling back across the cold concrete floor. He grabbed a hold of Akira’s hair once more, lifting him to where he held the clipboard, 

“If you don’t sign this sheet, your friends’ lives could be in danger.” 

Gray eyes widened, he thought he had been the only Thief to be caught? Akira gripped the pen tightly, moving to sign the sheet, his shaking hand leaving the pen unsteady. He signed his name, the signature sloppy and wobbly, but the man nodded approvingly.

“Good boy.” 

The words made Akira sick to his stomach, the tone disgusting and the words degrading. The man turned on his heel, exiting the room with what Akira assumed to be the confession. Another man came and put the chair back onto it’s four legs, pulling Akira up after and none too gently assisting him into the chair. The men left after the first, leaving Akira alone in the room with a killer headache and his limbs feeling like lead. It was almost like an out of body experience, how no matter if he urged himself to move he couldn’t manage the strength to commit to the action. He sighed out a heavy breath, letting himself float, he could relax for now.


End file.
